MultiChoice Africa / DSTV
Reviews and Complaints

In March 2017 an agent called me from multichoice about my o/s fee - I told the agent that I could not afford Dstv for the foreseeable future and that Dstv should be disconnected. She confirmed that she must disconnect and I said yes I told her numerous times that I cannot afford it. She said ok and the call was ended. From that date for the next 10 days Dstv was still connected after I had informed the agent on your recorded call that she needed to disconnect.

In April 2017 - I was told that the account was suspended because of the o/s fees. I called and I told them that I am not paying anything o/s because I told the agent to disconnect in March and I was told all kinds of nonsense about only being able to cancel on the 1st of the month and that the agent who called me wasn't able to disconnect so she just didn't and she didn't tell me that I had to call someone else to disconnect. I demanded to speak to a supervisor. I was told that they would listen to the call and give me feedback. I refuse to be held accountable for the extra 10 days that the account was still connected because you have my voice recording to tell you to disconnect it. I NEVER got a call back!

In May 2017 I was sent a message that I was being handed over for the o/s amount! So I called again! And again had to explain to your call centre the situation again I demanded to speak to a supervisor.. on the 5 June 2017 and AGAIN I was told that the call would be listened to and I would get feedback.

AND NOW 18 months later I get another call to say that I have been handed over for this o/s amount! I called the call centre and according to the notes on the 5 June was the last time anyone did anything on my account and even your supervisor didn't update the system so now I am back to square 1 and NOTHING HAS BEEN DONE FOR 1 YEAR AND 5 MONTHS! And the email address I was given were incorrect in order to get this sorted. Because apparently your call centre cant do anything!

This week of 22 October I have called your call centre and spoke to 3 different supervisors! Brenda promised to lsiten to the call and give me feedback - Nothing! I called the next day and could get hold of her.. I was told 2 emails were sent to her to call me back at nothing.. I asked to escalate and was told a manager would call me back and still nothing! again on the 25/10 another 30 mins and another supervior promising to listen to the call!

REALLY? Does every supervisor need to listen to this call before I get feedback? what do I need to do to get this sorted with Multichoice?

This is why people don't want to deal with Multichoice.

23/10/18

customer no : [protected]
[protected]

Every month for the past 3 months a few days before my payment is due, i sit with no Tv. happening again as i am typing this complaint
i get a error on my extraveiw and then i call in for assistance and suddenly all my devices doesn't work. Every time i speak to a call centre agent they tell me they will escalate my matter it will take about 15-30 minutes and that they will get back to me, 3 days later still no feedback from anyone not even a courtesy call. My kids depend on this DStv as they watch school programmes on there aswell. I find this service pathetic as i am in customer service myself and I refuse to pay my full subscription fee as this has been happening to often.

Watching DSTV lately is anything but entertaining! It's a shame and it's absolutely shocking to see programs being repeated and repeated and repeated...daily! Come on DSTV you are stealing our subscription money -what are you using our subscription money for -we've paid for the current content 3 years ago! Most of the movies and programs showing have been showing for the last 3+ years! Come on you need to up your game and come to the party and refresh your content! Can you really afford to loose more subscribers to Netflix, ShowMax and live streaming from the internet!? Point is: STOP STEALING OUR MONEY BY REPEATEDLY SHOWING THE SAME CRAP DAY IN AND DAY OUT!

I paid my DSTV account for October 2018 on 28 September 2018 with an EFT. On 4 October they suspended my service because it is not paid. I checked the reference number is correct and the payment went through.  From 4 October i called them twice a week and send 4 emails with the proof of payment.  They disconnect my service twice a week, reconnect it when i explain the problem and promise to escalate the problem, just to disconnect the service 3 days later.  The call centre personnel refuse to give me an other number to call. They twice promised that their Team Leader will call me back, which never happened, today it happen again. I have spend R200 on telephone calls with no success.

I only have one decoder the smart card no [protected]). I am staying in George and my account is paid in full. You record all your calls look at the call I made around the 15 or16 August. My account is payed in full. I only have one account and why must I pay for 2 decoders, it is not my problem you have decoders open on my name and now I must pay for it.

IF THIS IS NOT RESOLVED TODAY I WILL CANCEL MY ACCOUNT WITH MULTI CHOICE AND MOVE ON...
There is other options because it seems to me that your company does not take customer complaints seriously. Now I can not watch t.v. and my account is paid in full - where is your call centre? - they can't phone me but I pay thousands a year for T.V. ?

I thank you.
Henk du Plooy - [protected]

My dstv has been freezing non stop for over 6months now i can not watch a programe a 1 hour program i only see 5 minutes of i pay my [censored] of for [censored]. Ive launched complaints and asked to be fixed but nowone comes back to me. This sirvice is useliss, [censored], frustrating and not even worth paying 1R for DSTV is [censored]! I will not be reximend this KAK to enyone and hopes this [censored] product goes bancrott soon and thanx in advance for absolutely nothing.

I received a phone call from a DSTV representative at the end of August 2018, offering a renewed two-year PriceLock contract, at a reduced rate of R789 per month (I currently paid R949 per month). I agreed to take on the new two-year contract. However, since then, my services have been regularly cut, on the pretext that I owe money - each time, the amount owing being different. This has occurred on an almost weekly basis. I called to complain on September 16th, September 27th, October 3rd, October 8th and October 14th, each time after my service was cut. Each call followed the same pattern: the agent informed me that my services were cut because I owed money; I informed the agent that I pay via debit order and that I can't owe any money; the agent investigated this and confirmed that s/he is unsure why the services were suspended; the agent reconnected the services, informed me that the matter had been referred to the accounts department, and stated that someone would call me within 24 hours to address the issue). However, each time, no call would be forthcoming and, within a week to 10 days, the services would be cut again. There was one attempt to call me back, on October 9th, but I missed this call and no further attempts were made to call me back. Today (October 19th), the service has been cut again.

Moreover, when I agreed to the renewed contract, I was informed that the normal debit order, of R949 would be taken at the end of August, but that the renewed fee would come into effect at the end of September. I was thus extremely surprised, and unimpressed, when, at the end of September, not only was I NOT charged the revised R789, but I was in fact charged R990. When I asked one of the agents about this, she indicated, as always, that she could not understand why I was charged this amount, and that the accounts department would call me back to rectify the problems on the account. This was during the telephone call of October 8th, the only one after which one attempt was made to call me.

Finally, when the initial sale was made, I explicitly asked if the R789 was all-inclusive, and was informed that, indeed, it was. However, I subsequently have been informed that the additional R90 Access fee (for access to PVR services) was NOT, in fact, included and that I'm due to pay R879 per month. This, again, was not as per the original agreement explained to me during the initial phone call.

The situation is now such that I have my services cut every few days, have to make lengthy calls to the call centre, with frustrating results, while being charged more than ever (rather than less), and with absolutely no recourse.

When I signed up with DsTV we agree to a free monthly TV guide book which I no longer receive.

I also liked chanel 183, reason why I took the package which was later cancelled by DsTV.

Repeat programmes are also not on as we pay for the same programmes and movies over and over. By doing this they should make enough money not to increase their annual subs . Take a look at channels 110 and 111 for instance and see why viewers are so unhappy about them.

Maybe we should organise a boycott against them until they fix this problem and stick to their contractual agreements with their viewers to start with.

I was engaging with DSTV since end August regarding a promotion that being run that I was initially told I qualify for.

After a month of no further communication I had to call back to hear that I am no longer eligible for the promotion. I was really frustrated that nobody at DSTV throughout this process called me to give me any explanation around the non-qualification. I even spoke to a on duty manager who informed me that he would correspond with me via email which to date did not happen.

In steps Mr Rayno Rautenbach, an asset to DSTV in every way. Mr Rautenbach took the time to call me after hours to check if my query was attended to. When I informed him that he was the first person from DSTV to contact me he immediately owned the problem. Not only did he own it, within 2 hours of our conversation he resolved my problem.

This truly needs to be commended as service like this is hard to get.

Thank you Mr Rautenbach for the character of service excellence displayed in our interaction. You restored the back image that was in my mind of DSTV.

Hi Nkateko, Phiwe, Mulala and LeVaarn (all of you I spoke to the past month for help)

I have a big problem and is losing money due to poor customer service and admin.
Attached is all the payments I made so far on my dstv account, but somehow my dstv gets suspended every other day with the reason that a payment must be made...
This is impossible and to be honest... unbearable!
I ask you to contact me on [protected]@gmail.com because I need a explanation and reason to continue being a customer of multi choice. Also a explanation why I have to suffer this inconvenience and make all this payments?

My customer number is [protected], i am complaining with regard to your continuous disconnections regardless of the fact that my account is up to date and i have provided proof of payment on several occasions and i was ensured that the disputed payment would be sorted by your accounts division. please note that the level of incompetence within your accounts division has become a very costly exercise for because despite the numerous submissions of proof of payment they keep on disconnecting my service resulting in the necessity to call to be reconnected. please note that i bare the total costs of the call which are now running to almost towards.

DSTv has become just as bad as the SABC with adverts. One of the main reasons we got DSTv was to negate the nonsense adverts but nowadays DSTv is competing for the trophy of most trash service provider. Maybe its time to cancel our subscription and sticking to Nexflix and bootlegging shows we wanna watch without the 10 minute advert intervals! Its ridiculous

For more than 3 years I get demands for payment intended for another customer. I've been complaining for as long but nothing gets done!

We've stopped your DStv as you've not paid.To reconnect, pay R515.00, using ref no.5135320. Once paid, we'll reconnect you.To pay: payat.io/dstv/5135320.

Thanks for your DStv payment. Unfortunately, you still need to pay R115.00 to reconnect. If you still have an error after you've paid, dial *120*68584# to fix it.

Customer No: [removed]

The lady by the DSTV agency at Mandela Square was very rude towards my Sister who had went in the branch to inquire about a faulty decoder, whereby she was told that the decoder cannot be fixed and that she will have to pay R300 to get a new updated HD decoder.

As a result she did not understand why she has to pay any additional monies as the decoder is insured, failing to understand she called me for clarity and I spoke to Tumi the sales lady who works at this agency, she also failed to explain clearly to me and had to call the DSTV call center for more clarity.

After obtaining clarity I told my sister that the additional payment is for installation and that it has to be paid unfortunately, when my sister wanted to conclude the process to pay and update the decoder, Tumi now became arrogant and rude instructing my sister to call me again as she did initially so that they can assist her.

Eventually they did not assist her and told her that she needs to go to the Three Rivers branch to get assistance as they do not have those HD decoders. They could have told her initially but choose to do it at the end of the tedious process of proving their incompetence and arrogance.

This service provider is contracted directly with DSTV and your intervention with this service provider in this regard would be greatly appreciated, including but not limited to receiving a written apology from them.

Kind Regards
[removed]

I got the sms to upgrade my account from compact to compact plus at R460 (I am sure a lot of pple gt that sms). Because it seemed like a good offer l called the call centre and upgraded. The agent even told me that l will be charged R460. Two months don the line l notice on my account that l was being charged more so l called the call centre to querry. They told me that it will be corrected in 48 hrs and days later there is no correction and l call the call centre again being told stories like we have escalated with our business desk. Currently they keep charging me the wrong amount and life goes on for them wile l feel robed and tricked into upgrading.

For those that upgraded please check your accounts, its possible you were also cheated.

DSTV has continuously and constructively being disconnecting the Walker services over the last 12 months. When reporting the disconnection the call centre they response that the Walker is faulty as a standard response. However on insisting that there is nothing wrong with tlmy Walker and after many calls the services is switched on again. Call centre records are available. It was clear to me the DSTV is trying to discontinue the services and on confronting them they denied this is what they are doing. However as i anticipated in October DSTV communicate that the services will be discontinued at the end of October. On Saturdays 13 October DSTV again disconnects my services. This is 17 days before the communicated date. I called the call centre they indicate they are randomly disconnecting tower. DSTV has continuously lied about the services and has disconnected the services before the communicated date. I fine this unacceptable customer service and I a frustrated with the inappropriate and deliberate service interruption. Besides DSTV lying to me for the past 12 months regarding service termination thier own commutation says the end of October.

Hi there, I'm very disappointed. I downgraded my dstv service on 26th August and some reason your agent didn't do the job. From that time my service is disconnecting almost every couple weeks. I phoned almost phoned 6 to 7 times to reconnect. Today again and your agent was very rude. Who is going to pay my airtime for every time I call u. I dont want to go Hellopeter so please resolve this issue. My service is connected again but to phone you guys again and again is not the answer. I want you must pay me back to phone you again and again which is actually was not my fault.

My ID no for you to check my account and my call history is [protected]

I hope you will give me positive feedback.

Kind Regards,
Muhammed Gull
[protected]

Hi

My price lock ended in june 2018, yet you [censored]s keep debitting my account. Every month I phone my bank and reverse the debit and phone you and tell you to cancel it. Every month you send me an sms confirming it has been changed to cash (I do not want your service, my decoder is not even plugged in). Then surprise at month end you [censored]s debit my account again. I do not know how else to bring the message across to you, I do not want your service. I do not owe you any money. Stop this! Next step is the complaints board and icasa and the dam constitutional court if I must!

Lionel

I am on a "24 Months" Price Lock and I am still in that "Price Lock".

My monthly subscription should be R847 (Eight Hundred and Forty Seven Rands) Per month.

My current subscription amount is showing R1 047. This is not correct and needs to be corrected.

I even went into Multichoice Head Office but not one person could assist me.

Can anyone assist?

ID [protected]

My wife and I are leaving for overseas on 21/10/2018 and will return to South Africa on 01/11/2018. The disconnection can only take place on the 28/10/2018 because that is my payment date. I is my payment date. I loose 7 days before the disconnection can take place. What does the payment date got to do with the disconnection. Must I plan my oversea trip on my payment date? This does not make sense.

G.P.CHETTY
[protected]